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Keep your enemies close.

20152 h 02 min

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Overview

The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.

Jonny Depp does good psychopath. A scary movie particularly as it’s based on a true story. ‘Whitey’ Bulger was a notorious crime boss back in the 70s in Boston, USA and this film pulled no punches in portraying the violence and gore that ensued. Depp was deeply disturbing as the dead-eyed Bulger, unmoved by the fear and death he left in his wake and carrying with him an almost palpable aura of menace. Benedict Cumberbatch played Bulger’s brother, the upstanding senator and although I’m no expert on a south Boston accent Cumberbatch’s version of it did seem to wander around somewhat and has divided opinion on Twitter. The few women that were in the movie were Bulger’s victims in one way or another, the mother of his child, the threatened and intimidated wife of the FBI agent and the teenage girl he had murdered. The only non-victim woman’s role was his mother. Is the ‘hard man being especially close to his mother’ stereotype actually true or just a cinematic device to show us that even the the most evil psychopaths have some humanity somewhere? Good movie. Enjoyed is not the right word, but I left feeling chilled by Depp’s portrayal.